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Old 01-12-2018, 10:33 PM
Robert Grant's Avatar
Robert Grant Robert Grant is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Monroe County, MI
Posts: 518
Quote:
Originally Posted by andy View Post
I would dump the cleaning tapes and learn to do a proper manual cleaning. Not only are cleaning tapes hard on the heads, they miss 95% of the dirt on the tape guides, capstan, pinch roller, and other parts that contact the tape.
In the case of my Sanyo VCR4400 (a Beta VCR), I think I'll have to settle with the cleaner cartridge. This unit seems to be designed to thwart any attempt at nondestructive disassembly.

Quote:
I use 91% (or better) isopropyl alcohol as cleaning fluid. Q-tips are fine on the tape guides, but not on the video heads. Use something lint free like fine weave cotton cloth (a scrap of bed sheet) or even printer paper.

You picture problem is probably not caused by dirty heads. It sounds a lot like the timing pulse from the head drum is missing, so it doesn't know when to switch heads. On JVC VCRs, this is usually caused by an open electrolytic on the drum motor.
Thanks for the info. From yours and other replies, I gather that highly pure alcohols are recommended and that pentane is not necessary.

My VCR discussed in this post is a Toshiba SD-V393, a combination VCR and DVD player.
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